


Red Stone, Sea, and Sky

by VoidSketch



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Allegory, Gen, Hermitcraft - Freeform, Other, also i've never used ao3 before help, i used this as an english assignment, i wasn't gonna post this but a friend wanted me to, i'm gonna be honest with y'all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:54:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27587750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VoidSketch/pseuds/VoidSketch
Summary: It was hard to miss at first; when the red dust began to appear. Small patches at first, a little shine of crimson here or there. Odd colored dust or powder or whatever it was, a spot of oddly hued debris was never odd to see in the Cave of Contraptions. So when the red dust began to appear in places he knew it should not be, Zed didn’t notice too much.Zedaph has never been outside the Cave of Contraptions. He's spent his whole life inside this hollow mountain, until one day, a mysterious source calls him to leave. It tells him to find the way to see the sky. Curious as he is, he follows it.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	Red Stone, Sea, and Sky

It was hard to miss at first; when the red dust began to appear. Small patches at first, a little shine of crimson here or there. Odd colored dust or powder or whatever it was, a spot of oddly hued debris was never odd to see in the Cave of Contraptions. So when the red dust began to appear in places he knew it should not be, Zed didn’t notice too much. The colored powers that sprinkled life into the otherwise dull landscape of a hollow mountain brought more than just color. They powered mechanisms and machines, from automatic sorters to wardrobes.

Zed didn’t remember how he got here, but the Cave of Contraptions was all he knew. He never dared leave, for no exit was accessible. But he would find himself wondering from time to time if there was something more. The oldest machines read that nothing more was outside, and he always trusted them. Machines don’t have an agenda, he would think, they wouldn’t lie to the only creator within the walls.

From the moment he would remember, there were only two things he knew. One, that is job was to build machines by harnessing the power hidden within the dust that would appear. Two, that he was alone, and there was no escape. The only way out he could find was a metal hatch, thousands of feet in the air, scathing the top of the cave. For Zed, the building of machines was second nature. His belief was that if there was something more to the world, there would be others like him, in other hollow mountains, and they would have machines far more vast and complicated than the “combined scrap” that he had made.

In due time, the red dust was everywhere. Zed had never been able to understand it’s properties fully, but in his time within the confines of the cave, he had learned that finished contraptions would react oddy to it. Odd was the only word he had to describe it, as sometimes the sorter would stop working all together if the dust clung to the barrels, or the furnace would ramp up production 10 times as fast. But the results were random, unknown, uncontrollable. So when the dust started leaking from the hatch, causing the iron doors to creak open with a resounding groan, Zed should have expected it.

In one time or another, the way he scaled the cave would have been important. Perhaps it was scaffolding, perhaps it was rock climbing. But truth be told, simple solutions were never Zed’s forte, and one would have expected him to build rocket propelled wings. Not the easiest, but the fastest solution for Zed. Certainly the most fun. But all in all, Zed, for the first time his memory would allow, the lights in the sky were real, and not facsimiles of a night’s twinkling lights.

From what he could see around him, there was grass. Snow too, but the thing that caught his attention the most right off the bat was the ocean. Zed had never seen something so vast and big, it boggled his mind to even think of. In the distance, islands could be seen. Buildings stood upon them, but there wasn’t anything mechanical in sight. No whirligigs, no turnstops, nothing but sky high buildings of metal.

His first thought was confusion, though wonder was still taking hold of his very being. Zed took a step forward towards the cliffside in front of him, before stopping, noticing the red dust. Once more, the anomaly stuck to his shoes, clinging to his being. Something about this dust was alive, wanting him to see the world outside the Cave. Something about the dust wanted him to grow. But Zed still didn’t understand how in a world far more vast than a hollow mountain, no inventions could be seen. Perhaps his job was to bring his teachings to the civilization in the distance, but even he knew a 60 ft flight was far too long to bring any of his contraptions with him. Even if he could manage it, nothing would fit through the gate.

So Zed stood, looking upon a world of endless possibilities, but no possibilities at the same time. Faced with the decision of freedom or creativity.


End file.
